NEW YORK, NY – If the viral global virus that has all of us staring at each other, sizing one and other up and down, lists 8th Floor Studio Apartment Fever as a symptom, then yours infectedly needs to visit [Bob] Apodaca’s Apothecary. Did I mention a dog that is suddenly and alarmingly drinking water like it’s going out of style faster than an all-inclusive cruise to the Caribbean? Yeah. That’s all the wife and me needed; obsessing over whether the dog has kidney failure, ate rat poison down by skunk-infested Hudson Yards or simply is dehydrated from who knows what. FYI: “skunks” was not a typo. The pup and I got sprayed last year between the kebab cart and 7-Train entrance on 34th Street between 10th & 11th – and we were minding our own business… Speaking of business, let’s get to the biz of sports entertainment and give you something to chat about in your next virtual gathering, as per the Covid-19 Pandemic; The Best Players To Wear 19.

Here’s three…

JOE MONTANA

What’s that? He wore #16, you say? Yes. He did. And he was Tony The Tiger grr-reat in it! But he also lit the sports-fan lamp in a young, cuddly, chubby-cheeked Cam James‘ developing brain wearing… a Chief’s jersey with #19 on it. And almost pulled off another post-season miracle, at age 49. Bing it, douche bags.

TONY GWYNN

Fat Guys Can Hit is the best sports movie not yet made. The late, great Tony was a tiger at the dish, eating up pitchers with a ferocious gentility. Hell, Ted Williams liked him and Teddy Ballgame hated everyone – particularly his Mexican cousins. Billy Joel was right, though… only the good die young.

BOBBY OJEDA

My top pick as the MVP of 19s. Why? Pfft. You know nothing about sports if you don’t know this answer. Okay, maybe the virus has you in its grip. Bobby O, the crafty lefty – not too be confused with Bobby V – learned his vocation tossing off-speed strikes with a sprinkle of occasional heat, with Boston’s Green Monster lurking in his outfield. Right-handed hitters were frothing at the mouth when they stepped in the box. A lefty control pitcher at Fenway?!Gads! But guess what? Ojeda was good. He was a methodical menace with a gunslinger’s bravado. Fortunately, Bosox GM Lou Gorman didn’t like his butt cheeks contracting every time the southpaw threw to the plate in his unforgiving ballpark. So he traded him to the Mets for a fire-balling righty, Calvin Shiraldi. This was in 1986. Remember 1986? Mets fans do. That was the last time the Amazins were… Amazin. Without Bobby Ojeda, the Red Sox win the World Series that year. Not only was Robert Michael Ojeda stellar for the Metsies, but Shiraldi lost Game 6 AND Game 7! You do the math!

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Willis Reed, Johnny Unitas, Steve Yzerman.

That’s all for now, please comment below, regardless of the subject and come back tomorrow for Cheesy Bruin, who lost his first trifecta at 19… and the reason I included Yzerman.

Matt McCarthy, is the MTM founder and consequently wears many hats: Director, Editor, Writer, Web guy and Podcaster... Also known as Short Matt, he's also a two-bit actor, voice-over pro, rugby, baseball and ice hockey player and likes hazelnut coffee with rice milk, while strolling in the sand, listening to foreign films... Matt also moonlights on MTM spin-off, RugbyWrapUp.com, often wearing a wig and glasses while butchering a Kiwi accent.